1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-discharging apparatus which discharges, from a nozzle, an photo-thickening ink of which viscosity is increased by receiving or being irradiated with a predetermined light beam (light) onto a recording medium to record an image, and an image-recording method using the ink-discharging apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an example of ink-discharging apparatus, there is an ink-jet recording apparatus. The ink-jet recording apparatus forms an image, for example, on a recording paper etc. as a recording medium by discharging an ink from a discharge head to the recording paper. Upon forming an image on a recording paper having permeability, such as p plain paper, there is a possibility that ink adhered to the recording paper might permeate into the paper, resulting in lowering the image quality.
In view of such situation, there is proposed an ink-discharging apparatus using UV-curable ink and including a UV light source (see Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2003-89198). This ink-discharging apparatus discharges an ink of which viscosity is increased by receiving or being irradiated with ultraviolet ray, such as a UV-curable ink, onto a recording medium; and immediately afterwards the ink-discharging apparatus makes ultraviolet ray from the UV light source to be irradiated to the UV-curable ink adhered to the recording medium so as to cure the ink, thereby suppressing the ink from permeating through the recording medium.
Irrespective of whether or not the ink-discharging apparatus uses UV-curable ink, in the ink-discharging apparatus, a meniscus is always formed in a nozzle (nozzle hole) of the discharge head through which the ink is discharged. Due to the meniscus, the ink stays or remains in the nozzle without leaking out from the nozzle. On the other hand, in a relatively compact ink-discharging apparatus particularly used in a home, the body of the apparatus (apparatus body) would often suffer from physical shock to a certain extent when the apparatus is carried for changing its installation place or when the apparatus makes contact with a user. Further, it is not completely unlikely that any object such as an edge portion of the recording paper makes contact with the nozzle. When the meniscus formed within the nozzle is destroyed due to any of these factors, there is a possibility that the ink remained in the nozzle might leak out, resulting in adhering to an inner portion of the apparatus body.
In an ink-discharging apparatus in which a UV-curable ink is used, when the leaked ink is cured inside or at inner portion of the apparatus, then there is a possibility that the driving of carriage etc. might be hindered. Further, when the UV-curable ink adhered to a platen supporting a recording medium such as recording paper is cured, then there is a possibility that the transport of the recording medium might be hindered.